Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day 2017: What happened on that fateful day 76 years ago?

View eight hard-to-reach places where the scars of the 1941 attack are still visible.
Video by Jasper Colt, USA TODAY

Greg Murphy plays the Navy Hymn during a ceremony commemorating the 75th anniversary of the Dec. 7, 1941 Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, on board The Battleship New Jersey Museum and Memorial in Camden, N.J., on Dec. 7, 2016.(Photo: Matt Rourke, AP)

On Thursday, Americans will mark the 76th anniversary of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in Hawaii. Here are some facts surrounding that fateful day:

What happened?

Just before 8 a.m. on Sunday, Dec. 7, 1941, hundreds of Japanese planes made a surprise raid on Pearl Harbor, a major U.S. Navy base near Honolulu. During the raid, which was launched from aircraft carriers, nearly 20 American naval vessels, including eight battleships, were damaged or destroyed, as well as more than 300 aircraft, ,according to the History Channel. More than 2,400 Americans died in the attack, including civilians, and at least 1,000 were wounded.

Why was it a pivotal moment in U.S. history?

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Watch a spectacular reenactment of the raid on Pearl Harbor that pays tribute to the fallen soldiers on both sides in 360 degrees.
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In short, the attack brought the United States into World War II. Until the raid, the U.S. had hesitated to join the conflict, which had started on Sept. 1, 1939, after Germany invaded Poland. In those nearly 2 1/2 years, the U.S. had extensively aided the United Kingdom, virtually the sole source of resistance to the Nazis in Europe, but a general mood of isolationism — brought on, according to the State Department’s Office of the Historian, by the Great Depression and the memory of huge losses during World War I — led Roosevelt and Congress to be wary of intervention. Pearl Harbor reversed that in under a day, with Congress, less than an hour after Roosevelt’s speech, issuing a declaration of war.

How does the Pearl Harbor attack compare with 9/11?

The official death toll in the Dec. 7, 1941, attack was 2,403, according to the Pearl Harbor Visitors Bureau, including 2,008 Navy personnel, 109 Marines and 218 Army service members. Added to this were 68 civilians. Of that number, 1,177 were from the USS Arizona, the wreckage of which now serves as the main memorial to the incident. A complete list of those who died can be found here. Fifty-five Japanese also were killed.

In comparison, the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, led to 2,997 deaths, including the 19 terrorists. Of those, 2,606 died at the World Trade Center in New York City, 125 at the Pentagon and 246 on the four planes involved (not including the terrorists). Some of those counted died of illnesses caused by the dust at the World Trade Center site, meaning the total could rise further.

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In this Dec. 7, 1941 photo sailors stand among wrecked airplanes at Ford Island Naval Air Station as they watch the explosion of the USS Shaw in the background, during the Japanese surprise attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.
US Navy, AP

A small boat rescues a seaman from the USS West Virginia burning in the foreground in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, after Japanese aircraft attacked the military installation, Dec. 7, 1941. More than 2,300 U.S. service members and civilians were killed in the strike which brought the United States into World War II.
US Navy, AP

In this photo provided by the U.S. Navy, burning oil from shattered fuel tanks turn parts of Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, into a sea of flame, Dec. 7, 1941. Barely visible through the smoke are a damaged U.S. battleship and the capsized USS Oklahoma.
US Navy, AP

This US Navy file image shows the USS California burning after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941.
Seventy-five years after Japan's surprise attack on Pearl Harbor killed 2,403 Americans, a group of forensic scientists in Hawaii is still working to identify the remains of the dead. A jumble of skulls, bones and teeth deemed unidentifiable in the years following the devastating attack are now being linked to missing sailors and Marines, thanks to advances in DNA testing.
US Navy, AFP/Getty Images

This US Navy file image shows the USS California burning after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941.
Seventy-five years after Japan's surprise attack on Pearl Harbor killed 2,403 Americans, a group of forensic scientists in Hawaii is still working to identify the remains of the dead. A jumble of skulls, bones and teeth deemed unidentifiable in the years following the devastating attack are now being linked to missing sailors and Marines, thanks to advances in DNA testing.
US Navy, AFP/Getty Images

A small boat rescues a USS West Virginia crew members from the water after the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor. Two men can be seen on the superstructure, upper center. The mast of the USS Tennessee is beyond the burning West Virginia.
AP

Ships burn after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941.
The USS Arizona went down entombing 1,177 crew members. Seventy-five years after Japan's surprise attack on Pearl Harbor killed 2,403 Americans, a group of forensic scientists in Hawaii is still working to identify the remains of the dead. A jumble of skulls, bones and teeth deemed unidentifiable in the years following the devastating attack are now being linked to missing sailors and Marines, thanks to advances in DNA testing.
US Navy, AFP/Getty Images

The hull of the capsized USS Oklahoma is seen at right as the battleship USS West Virginia, center, begins to sink after suffering heavy damage, while the USS Maryland, left, is still afloat in Pearl Harbor.
U.S. Navy via AP

U.S. Navy sailors stand among wrecked airplanes at Ford Island Naval Air Station as they watch the explosion of the USS Shaw in the background, during the Japanese surprise attack on Pearl Harbor.
U.S. Navy via AP

Where are remembrance ceremonies taking place?

The main ceremony will take place at the World War II Valor in the Pacific National Monument located in Pearl Harbor, a property managed by the National Park Service. According to a press release, the observance will begin at 7:50 a.m. local time and a moment of silence will occur at 7:55 a.m., the time the attack began. A flyover by the U.S. Air Force and the Hawaii Air National Guard will follow. In attendance will be Pearl Harbor survivors, World War II veterans, family members and dignitaries. The ceremonies will be live streamed on the monument’s YouTube and Facebook accounts, as well as on pearlharborevents.com.

How many survivors remain?

As of July this year, only five survivors of the USS Arizona, the ship most heavily hit in the raid, were still alive. They are Lauren Bruner, of La Mirada, Calif; Lou Conter, of Grass Valley, Calif.; Lonnie Cook, of Morris, Okla.; Ken Potts of Provo, Utah; and Donald Stratton of Colorado Springs. All are in their mid-90s. Beyond those who survived on the USS Arizona, the totals are less clear and depend on just who are counted as survivors. In March of this year, the oldest living survivor of the attacks, Californian Ray Chavez, turned 105, according to NBC News. He was aboard a minesweeper, the Condor, when the raid occurred.

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Five Japanese midget submarines were used in the attack on Pearl Harbor. They had an operating temperature of 135 degrees Fahrenheit. This sub is now on display at the National Museum of the Pacific War in Fredericksburg, Texas﻿.
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